To Our Venerable Brothers, all the Patriarchs, Primates,
Archbishops, and Bishops who Enjoy Grace and Communion with the Apostolic See.

Venerable Brothers, Greetings and Apostolic
Blessing.

Ever since We first accepted the care of the
Lord's flock, through the incomprehensible wisdom of the eternal shepherd presiding over
the See of St. Peter, We have received reports from many fervent and zealous churchmen.
Many of them were from pastors and preachers of the word of God, who travel through the
cities and provinces preaching penance and correction of character to the people. Their
unanimous complaint was that among the abuses and corruptions which they observed and
strove to reform in the exercise of their ministry, they frequently encountered an avarice
and greed on the part of certain clergymen that cried out for correction. As the Holy
Spirit called this the root of all evil, it is no wonder that it draws into more heinous
crimes all those whose soul it fills. It renders them apathetic in the fulfillment of
their duties and in their worship of God. Once avarice converts them to worldly desires,
they become devoted to worldly cares and preoccupations. They publicly disavow these while
they profess that among the mysteries of the holy initiation, they recognize only God as
the portion of their inheritance. Thus they necessarily become contentious and ready to
throw everything into confusion, so as not to lose some vile profit which they either hope
for or have already received. They are not ashamed to lower themselves to any lowly duty
or service, to the disgrace of their order and status. As a result many laymen despise not
only those who do such things, but often even the whole priestly company. Rather, let them
be bitter and scornful toward the kind of person whose lawsuits and contentions they must
endure in worldly affairs, or through whom honest means of providing for their own welfare
and that of their loved ones seems to be forestalled.

2. We believe that these accounts are more than
adequately supported by the facts. Indeed, even some monks allow themselves on occasion to
be taken beyond the bounds of ecclesiastical moderation, away from the concern they
imposed on themselves regarding the temporal gains of their communities. We are thus
aroused to satisfactorily remove from our midst such a corruption, which brings scandal to
the faithful and damaging effects to others.

3. It is true that from the very beginning of the
Church right up to our own times, there was nothing more plainly or more attentively
legislated either by the decrees of the councils or by the constitutions of the popes who
preceded Us. Nothing seemed to be stressed more frequently or more eagerly by the holy
fathers and the pastors of the churches than that the ministers of the church, both clergy
and monks, abstain from the desire for temporal wealth and that they should remove
themselves from worldly concerns. Not only spiritual censures but also very serious
temporal punishments were decreed for those who presumed to infringe or violate the
canonical rules in this matter. Having carefully considered everything, We think that
there is nothing left for Us to do, Venerable Brothers, other than to exhort you to cling
to the intention of Our predecessors and the spirit of the church in all things. We exhort
you to be zealous in obtaining the observance due these holy laws by all churchmen-both
those subject to your ordinary jurisdiction as well as those subject to your delegated
jurisdiction-according to the example of the sacred canons and the decrees of the Holy See
and the synodical statutes of each diocese.

4. In order to clarify this matter, We devote Our
constant attention and that of the Holy See to the religious observance of the
aforementioned laws. At the same time, We approve, confirm, and renew through this letter
each and every canon and constitution of Our predecessors against those clerics who act as
businessmen and who involve themselves in worldly matters. We mention especially those
decrees published and proclaimed by Pius IV, Urban VIII, and Clement IX, including the
most recent one which Our predecessor Popes Benedict XIV promulgated on February 25, 1741,
the first year of his pontificate, along with each and every penalty and the censures
respectively ordained by them. Similarly, the decrees contained in the above-mentioned
laws as well as their punishments and sanctions should be inserted word for word in Our
present letter. At the same time let all efficacy be removed from every opposing custom
and practice--which ought rather to be called by their proper names, corruptions and
abuses--by which certain churchmen strive to cover up their criminal dabbling in worldly
matters. We declare and decree that all clergymen-both from the secular clergy and from
the regular clergy of whatever order, congregation, society, or institute, are subject to
and should be subject to all the aforementioned laws and penalties. We should also mention
specifically those favored with special and extensive indults, privileges, and exemptions.
Thus, whoever transgresses these laws incurs the penalties prescribed in them as well as
those applicable according to the differences of circumstances and the method of procedure
prescribed by the Council of Trent or by the Holy See. They should be punished
notwithstanding any custom or practice to the contrary, even very old ones which can be
considered indigenous to some places, dioceses, or regions. We condemn, proscribe, and
nullify this practice, considering it a damnable abuse and an intolerable corruption in
the present state of affairs.

5. We exhort all of you, then, to watch over the
integrity of ecclesiastical discipline and the salvation of the souls of all the clergy
subject to you, both by ordinary and by delegated law. Inquire diligently into their
course of action; if you discover that some of them are infected with the stain of this
greed and that they sin against the canons and apostolic constitutions, do not neglect to
proceed against them dutifully and stringently, according to the example of the same
canons and constitutions.

6. There are two things which you should
especially beware of in this matter. First of all, do not allow your vigilance to be
foiled by the crafty arts of the evildoers. It often happens that those who know the
decrees of the laws fraudulently arrange their affairs so that even if their crime should
be brought to court, they can be on guard against admitting any violation of those laws.
Sometimes they will use an intermediary to serve their greed, or else conduct business
matters under a different name, which they record in the tables and account books while
they firmly maintain that they are not in the least concerned in the matter under
investigation. Sometimes they are aware that the more restrictive judgment of the laws is
constrained within certain limits; they strive to behave so that they have a defense if
they are accused of financial aspirations by their superiors. They can maintain that they
were not primarily led by base greed to seek profit, but that they worked solely at
avoiding evil through cautious planning and that they obtained an undesired profit through
the fortuitous goodness of time. Sometimes it is not their own property which is involved
in the business matters but that of their relatives or those joined to them by some other
bond of need. They will say that they obtain their support out of the duty of love or
under the title of management.

7. We are sufficiently aware, through Our own
experience in exercising the episcopal office, of how difficult it is to make a judgment
in certain cases in which the good or bad intention of the one who is accused of unlawful
business is of paramount importance. However, you should not think for that reason that
your diligence will be ineffectual when the clergy at least understands that you will not
ignore such a serious violation of church discipline. You will derive great benefit from
that very thing because you will more often call to witness your mind and that of the
Church, which shrinks from the shadier collusions even of these men. Given the
opportunity, you will announce to them that the God who scrutinizes the innermost recesses
of man will not be mocked. Before His supreme tribunal, those sometime-sophistries, which
now deceive the bishop and escape the legally-appointed penalties, will be of no avail.
Besides, it will not be impossible to recognize for the most part the hidden truth of the
matter and subdue the secret crime, if the character of the men involved, which reveals
itself in the total conduct of their lives, and the accompanying circumstances, which
render the proffered excuses more or less admissible, are weighed with the appropriate
skill and care. We could easily illustrate this with examples, if We did not trust in the
Lord concerning the wisdom of your brotherhood and in your experience.

8. The other thing, which you should equally
beware of, is that you not allow to flourish among you wrong interpretations of canon
laws, which diminish the strength of those laws and give excessive scope to indulgence.
These interpretations arise from private reflection, outside the mind and spirit of the
Church and without the agreement of a legitimate superior. They are adapted to any
circumstances at will. This problem may arise when the affairs of both the secular and
regular clergy are appealed to you for judgment. If there is any question concerning the
nature of the contract which clergymen customarily enter into in certain dioceses, whether
such a thing is permissible or should be forbidden, it will hardly be fair to rule on the
basis of either the frequency of those acts whose nature is in question or the ideas of
the contracting parties. But to remove every doubt and to restrain the excesses and
audacity of those who await a decision, the most expeditious recourse is to this Apostolic
See, which has defined many similar questions through the Congregation of the Cardinals,
the interpreters of the Council of Trent. Thus, it will be possible in the future to see
what was decided in given cases, and what were the suitable responses which can provide
precedents for acting and judging.

9. A clear decision has been requested from Us
and the Holy See on the matter of whether it is permissible for clergymen to change money.
Even though we think that it is difficult to find another matter less subject to doubt, We
nevertheless declare and define in this letter, so as to remove all doubt, that money
changing is by its very nature a true and proper act of business. Therefore, it should be
considered forbidden to all clergymen, both to contract in their own name or through an
intermediary. Any cleric, either secular or regular, who changes money will be considered
liable to all the penalties and censures which have been established for clergymen who
engage in business.

10. A clergyman may try to excuse his involvement
in worldly business by pleading indigence. This plea is not valid since the canonical
title of ordination should at least be a sufficient and adequate inheritance for each and
every clergyman to sustain himself. If there are needy clerics, each should look after his
own needs through more proper means which are in agreement with his vows. The indigence
will rather be that of his parents or sisters or some other person whom he is dutifully
bound to help. First of all, We decree that the ecclesiastical superior should never allow
such an excuse. We cannot permit that cleric not to be punished in proportion to his guilt
according to the prescriptions of canon law, unless he shows that he has already expressed
the aforementioned needs to the Apostolic See, if he lives in Italy or the adjacent
islands. If he lives in more remote regions, he should at least have explained matters to
the Ordinary of the place. He should also have sought a suitable dispensation after the
consideration of those matters. Finally he should have requested the Holy See or the
Ordinary for authorization to help the aforementioned person through his labors.

11. Next, as for what concerns the Curia in this
matter, We clarify our thoughts and desires. Such dispensations and authorizations should
never be granted unless the alleged causes of the situation are based on fact and unless
it is clear that the aforementioned needs cannot be alleviated in any other way. In the
same case, let it never be permitted for churchmen to assume any kind of business dealings
whose administration is not befitting their clerical status and character. Rather, in
those rescripts or letters of indult, let more suitable ways to bring assistance to his
poor relatives be indicated and prescribed for the cleric, in accordance with just
moderation and the measure of true need. The Ordinaries to whom this pertains should
similarly comply with everything in the granting of such dispensations and authorizations.
Either they or the Holy See have sometimes permitted certain indults to certain clerics
for special reasons, with just causes accompanying. Perchance these indults have come into
wider use-for example hiring church-owned farmland for cultivation at a fixed annual rate.
See to it particularly that other clerics do not usurp these things as if they were
conceded generally to everybody without just cause and without a special indult.

12. As for the rest, We resolve that those very
authorizations-even those obtained in the above - mentioned manner - should always be
considered harmful right up to the time they are revoked. Thus, they should be considered
null and void and revoked in their own right as soon as the alleged needs of the relatives
cease or another legitimate reason opportunely provides for them. We desire to burden the
vigilance and the conscience of the local Ordinary with the execution and observance of
all these matters.

13. It is true that the current depression of
ecclesiastical dignity is not to be attributed solely to business dealings. There are
other abuses which do not clearly oppose the letter of the sacred canons and constitutions
published by the Holy See. Yet, clergymen decide to use them and thereby cast aside ever
more frequently and more certainly the proper dignity of the cleric and the reputation of
their whole order. They are confident that they will not be subject to the censures and
the penalties established by those canons and constitutions. We know that many clergymen
are prominent in their unseemly activities: in the administration and care for their own
goods; in selling the fruits, animals, and other things which grow and are fed on their
own farms or those of the Church; and in preparing things which they need for their own
use or for setting in order the aforementioned farms. Thus they show themselves completely
given over to the cares and concerns of this world, these clerics who covet worldly gain.
Those who have risen above the lot of the human condition through the eminence of Holy
Orders in this way lower themselves below men of the lowest status. Those who should be
and appear to be the sons of light seem to outdo the sons of this generation in their
concern for worldly greed. Our reports relate that they attend all the markets and sales
with almost the same splendor and elegance as laymen, and they find anything preferable to
the appearance of clerical moderation and modesty or of the seriousness and honor of the
Church.

14. We proclaim openly that We will not forbid
them anything which was judged permissible, in regard to the very nature of the business,
for the correct and prudent administration of the Church's patrimony or which the holy
fathers and the writers of Church laws entrusted to their care. For there are many things
which clerics are not forbidden in regard to the substance of the matter, things which
they are permitted to use under certain limitations; but the holy canons will inflict both
temporal punishments and spiritual censures on those who go beyond the prescribed
limitations or who violate the established rule of ecclesiastical discipline. The general
rules of canon law and the individual statutes of the various dioceses contain many
examples of this, examples which prescribe many things to observe or avoid in regard to
the life, honesty, habit, or tonsure of the clerics. Thus, Venerable Brothers, you should
watch over the motives of all the clergymen living in your dioceses in regard to the
things We have just mentioned. If they approach you frequently to allow something which
might not be in conformity with their clerical status, you should teach them through
suitable instructions that they should comtemplate the eminence of the dignity they have
chosen for themselves. They should not think that they are allowed to debase it with
indecent acts or to wipe away from the souls of the laity the esteem and reverence due the
ecclesiastical order, an esteem which greatly benefits the m spiritual well-being of the
faithful. Mindful that they were called to share in the Lord's portion, they should seek
for and be concerned about the things which concern Jesus Christ and not themselves. In
addition, you know that it is necessary to meet such turpitude and greed on the part of
the clergy with suitable decrees strictly established, and you know that you must restrain
and punish the faults of the evildoers. Given the choice of a greater or lesser scandal,
first of all denounce the evil. Then correct it with salutary penitence; finally, restrain
and punish it with the unsheathed sword of penalties and censures as an example for
others.

15. Another kind of corruption infects many
clergymen and, We understand, draws them from church service to worldly concerns. This
demands as much or even more concern and constancy from your pastoral zeal. There are some
who give over in object service to the laity all the labor and effort which they should
expend in divine worship and in aiding their neighbors according to the law of love.
Sometimes they even hire out their services to administer the business affairs of laymen
for vile, temporal pay. In this matter it is difficult to judge whether the blindness of
those who trample upon the dignity of their own order is to be regretted more, or the
presumption of the laity. This laity takes so lightly the holy ministers from whom they
should seek examples of Christian life and aids to eternal salvation that they do not
hesitate to use them in servile ministries.

16. This certainly disturbs Us more, that an evil
of this kind should come from an abuse which is just as detestable. Whenever someone
rashly aspires to the clerical state, it sometimes happens that he deceives his Ordinary
with false or forged documents, and he is promoted to holy orders by a false estate which
either bears no fruit or which does not belong to him, without sufficient revenue to
maintain an upright living. For this reason, none of you should be surprised, Venerable
Brothers, if We take this opportunity to strongly exhort and warn each and every one of
you to be more careful and more vigilant in this matter. Thus, no one subject to you
should be given an opportunity to steal up to holy ordination if he does not receive a
certain amount of annual income from an ecclesiastical benefice or ecclesiastical pension
or from an estate created for him, in cases permitted by law. All fraud and collusion
should be eliminated--if, that is, he does not receive that amount of annual return which
was decreed either in the statutes of the diocesan synods or by legitimate custom.

17. Take care to recall to the precepts of
ecclesiastical life and to the duties of the clerical soldier those clergymen and priests
who devote themselves in the homes of the laity to these kinds of services which do not
befit their class and profession. These duties lead them away from God's service from
concern for their own spiritual progress to worldly business dealings and servile
occupations, even though they sometimes strive to conceal their activities with the
appearance of fine titles. Do not allow them to soil themselves peacefully in their shame
or to glory with obstinate impunity in their defection from the camp of the Church. To
these ends use every zeal and as much pastoral concern as necessary; use all the authority
of ordinary and delegated jurisdiction, and all the while observe those things which must
be observed.

18. Venerable Brothers, these are the things We
wanted to suggest and strongly commend to your care, out of the duty of Our apostolic
ministry in order to protect and vindicate the honor and the dignity of holy orders. In
this matter, which greatly depends on individual circumstances, it is necessary that you
who are present in your respective territories have the major roles. You are better able
to recognize and more certainly judge the deeds of those subject to you, the accompanying
circumstances, the needs of the regions, the customs of the people, and whatever might
appear decent or indecent among prudent and upright men. In order that you might be free
to correct and reform whatever might be wrong in these matters, We rely on your prudent
judgment to regulate any indult of dispensation or authorization granted by any office of
the Roman Curia up to now concerning these matters. We do not want to grant anything
further until We have heard the reports of your brotherhood, as well as the desires and
the accompanying formula and conditions of the indult, by which you have the entire
authority to know about its execution and effect. Thus, no clergyman should be allowed to
conduct any business dealings under any pretext or to assume a less upright ministry
contrary to your prohibition or to retain it and prolong it once it has been granted.
Meanwhile, We take pleasure in your pastoral zeal, and We lovingly grant to your
brotherhood the apostolic blessing.

Given in Rome at St. Mary Major on the 17th day
of September, 1759, in the second year of Our pontificate.